Governance of everyday nature in England
This talk by Antonia Layard (Tutorial Fellow in Law at St. Anne’s College and Professor of Law at the University of Oxford) considers the concept of “everyday nature” in English planning and environmental law. The term is a familiar one, particularly since repeated lockdowns, yet planning and environmental law provides little protection for nature, preferring to concentrate on biodiversity.
Distinguishing biodiversity from nature, this talk considers how we can protect nature, asking whether, when resources - land, money, political commitment - are limited, should we prioritise biodiversity or nature? In England, biodiversity rules provide for "priority species" or "special areas of conservation". Species and habitats are listed in appendices and indexes according to their scientific criteria, rather than their location or significance for people. Habitat sites and biodiversity are better protected than nature found on "local sites". A further, related question is whether the familiar distinction between ecocentrism and anthropocentrism is itself a product of the human-nature binary and whether we should prioritise ecocentrism over anthropocentrism. The paper raises these questions in the context of planning for new housing development, in the context of a case study in Bristol, at Brislington Meadows, where a Site of Nature Conservation Interest is (at the time of writing, January 2023) to be built over for new housing.
Time: 13:00 BST
